


As Long as the Stars are Above You

by VictoriannWings



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Grief, Langst, M/M, Reunited and It Feels So Good, Shangst Week 2017, Soft Kisses, but still, glow in the dark stars, okay he doesn't die, shangstweek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-11-19 15:38:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11316435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VictoriannWings/pseuds/VictoriannWings
Summary: Shiro's first mission to space left Lance with far too much.





	As Long as the Stars are Above You

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day Three (Above) for Shangst Week 2017!
> 
> Special thanks to AshtheWitch for help with the summary, and walkingcatfish for being a lovely beta!

"Shiro? Shiro, where are we going?" Lance's arms waved in front of him, and he nearly knocked Shiro in the head.

"Shh. It's okay, Lance, just follow me," Shiro's smooth voice reassured him, all calm excitement, his fingers warm on Lance's arm as he guided him forward.

Lance grumbled, squinting into the blindfold he was wearing. But, really, he would follow this man anywhere. "I'm serious, Shiro, where are we going?"

They stopped, then, and Lance almost bumped into Shiro, his hands flat on the taller man's back. But his hands flew up to yank the cloth tied around his face and he blinked his eyes open.

They stood in Lance's stale gray bedroom, his quarters at the Garrison, alone. He peered around. All of his pictures of his family still perched on his tiny end table, in neat rows so he could still pass inspection, and his bedsheets lay smooth and unwrinkled. Lance frowned. 

"Shiro...what's this about? You said you had a surprise for me?" As far as Lance could tell, nothing was out of order. There were no surprises here. He reached for Shiro and pulled the bigger man's arm around his shoulders, glancing up at him.

Shiro smiled, then, soft and giving Lance that mushy look that made his insides flip over and his heart arrhythmic. "Look, lay on your bed for a second and look up," he murmured, and waited. Lance complied with a frown and a side glance that he hoped told Shiro he didn't believe his shenanigans one bit. 

Then Shiro pressed the switch by the door and the room went dark. 

Lance, his hands folded under his head, stared with eyes wide. "Shiro!"

The ceiling sparkled, a glowing map of Pluto's moons and constellations, all yellow-green stars, with one little orange one where Kerberos was. A pang of amazement and longing shot through him. Shiro had done all of this for him, presumably in a very short amount of time, since Lance had been in his bedroom just this morning. He'd done all of this, just for him. 

And then Shiro folded himself around Lance in the darkness. His arms drew Lance close and the smaller man inhaled his comforting lavender-like scent, nuzzling near. "So I'll always be near you, above you."

Lance giggled, buried his face in Shiro's neck. "Silly, I don't need a bunch of plastic stars when you're the real thing."

Lance could almost feel Shiro purr in response, strong arms tightening around Lance. Ugh, how lucky he was to have a man who cared about him like this. To make him feel so safe and wanted.

"Anything for you, baby," Shiro murmured, his eyes sparkling more brightly than the stars.

Lance lifted his head to kiss Shiro, tender and soft, fingertips on his cheek. Their kiss didn't end so much as pause, just long enough for Lance to whisper, "I'm the luckiest man alive," before their lips couldn't bear to be separated anymore.

Shiro rolled half on top of Lance and their kisses began to slow, began to gentle, until Lance put his hand on his boyfriend's cheek. "I'll wait for you," he murmured. He'd miss Shiro every moment. That was a fact. But the stars twinkled sympathetically, and the weight of Shiro's body eased his heart. Lance had no doubt that the man of his dreams would return to him, a hero, an adventurer, with incredible information about Kerberos in hand. 

"I'm counting the days until I return." Shiro's voice vibrated through his chest. 

Lance smiled again. "I will too. But you'll be right above me. Just like you are now." He poked Shiro's sides. 

Shiro's laughter could cure everything. 

-

For a while it was enough to touch that little orange star every night and whisper his affections. For a while, Lance was okay knowing that Shiro would return one day. For a while, Lance was okay. 

For a while. 

But when the Kerberos mission failed and no one returned and Takashi Shirogone was pronounced dead, Lance wasn't okay for a while, too, and he tore all the green stars down, every single one of them, picked the sticky white glue off the ceiling and even some of the ceiling paint and he didn't care that he was going to get in trouble for it. He didn't care. Shiro would never come back. 

His fists clenched over the plastic stars, sharp in hands that could barely hold them, and his shoulders shook in a weird mixture of grief and rage. 

That night the orange star glinted above him and he stared it down instead of sleeping.

\- 

Curling up on his bed in the paladin quarters, Lance peered up at Shiro, still sitting upright, flexing his Galra tech hand. The scar across his nose still made Lance shiver sometimes, still sent ripples of anxiety and grief through him. Maybe Lance hadn't lost Shiro, but he would never be the same. They would never be the same.

Lance wordlessly put his hand into Shiro's. The warmth of the metal always startled him, but in a nice way. "Let it go, tonight," he whispered, and leaned forward to press small kisses to the slick surface. "Tonight, just be Shiro. Come, be with me."

And Shiro turned to him, then, eyes brimming with emotion and redness, folded onto the bed beside him. Lance thought he saw a flicker of pain in those dark eyes, clouded and stormy, and Lance's hand found Shiro's cheek, light and encouraging. 

"I'll never just be Shiro anymore, Lance," he responded, and if that familiar rumble of Shiro's voice didn't keep Lance grounded, he would have cried, too, from the pain cracking through words he never wanted to hear. 

But Lance hooked his arm around Shiro's waist and loosely pulled him closer. He couldn't stand this gap between them anymore. He couldn't stand it. He'd lost him once and he wouldn't quiznakking lose him again. 

"It doesn't matter what they did to you, Shiro, or what you thought you needed to do. It's over now." The promise shimmered in Lance's eyes as he scanned Shiro's face, gaze flicking from one stormy eye to the other. Maybe he'd never get used to the scar, or the glaringly white tuft of hair. Lance refused to give up. "We're in this together now."

Shiro didn't move. 

Lance inhaled and continued, "You're right. You'll never just be Shiro. But you're _my_ Shiro."

The man nodded and his arms encircled Lance. A hint of a smile broke through the storm, and they laid there in bittersweet warmth for a moment. 

Shiro shifted slightly, and frowned for a moment. He reached towards Lance's chest. "What's this?" He lifted Lance's dog tags off his chest and flipped them over.

A tiny orange plastic star was taped to the back of the dog tags. 

Lance avoided Shiro's gaze then, a dusting of redness on his cheeks. He muttered something. 

"What was that?" Shiro's finger lifted Lance's chin and their eyes met.

"I needed you with me," Lance muttered. He pulled Shiro tighter. "Even when I thought you were dead."

Shiro's eyes widened, then, and his hand slipped down Lance's jaw to bring it to his, meeting in a kiss that made all of Lance's limbs turn to jelly. "I'm always with you, Lance," Shiro mumbled into against his lips. "As long as the stars are above you, around you, I'm with you."

-

The moment they landed in the castle, Lance's hands shook. Keith's voice cracked through his comm system, yelling Shiro's name over and over. But Lance's voice didn't work. His feet carried him forward. The numbness in his limbs couldn't possibly worry him in this moment. Not when he didn't know where Shiro was. Not when for the second time in his life, the person he loved most in this world might be gone. 

He held his breath as he walked and a little lightheadedness was nothing compared to the crushing agony that washed over him when he saw the empty cockpit of the Black Lion. 

Keith had never been so vocal, his voice split open like an egg on the floor, and Lance made his eyes focus on the cold chair.

"He's gone." The words tumbled from his mouth before he could stop them. Without a second thought his hand flew up to the dog tags still hanging around his neck, but he couldn't get to them under his suit. 

Just like he couldn't reach for Shiro.

His fists closed on emptiness.


End file.
